Fibreboard Settles Its Asbestos Suit

Published: July 29, 1995

TYLER, Tex., July 28—
A Federal judge has approved a $1.54 billion settlement of all past and future asbestos-related claims against the Fibreboard Corporation.

The settlement will allow Fibreboard to avoid bankruptcy, settle a dispute over insurance coverage and better compensate the injured than if "bled dry in the tort system," Judge Robert M. Parker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said in his opinion, which was issued on Thursday.

Fibreboard's stock rose $1.125, to $24.125, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Judge Parker was given the case in 1991, when thousands of asbestos-related suits around the nation were consolidated.

Asbestos was used in insulation products for decades before being banned in the early 1970's.